INTO THE GREEN
Discover now the Urban Green Spaces of Munich!
Introduction
In land-use planning, the term Urban Green Space is used to describe open-space areas that are reserved for parks and other “green space”, including plant life, water features (also referred to as blue spaces), and other kinds of the natural environment. And WHO (World Health Organization) defined this as “all urban land covered by vegetation of any kind”.
In conclusion, Urban Green Space is more than just parks.
In the context of the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations that are of global concern, Urban Green Space is highly related to four of them, namely the 11th Goal-Sustainable Cities and Communities, the 13th Goal-Climate Action, the 14th Goal-Life below Water and the 15th Goal-Life on Land.
There is no doubt that we should pay more attention to and know more about Urban Green Space, especially its development and status.
Our project focuses on the visualization of Urban Green Space in Munich, Germany. We want to show the history and the current situation of Urban Green Space development in Munich to our audience from multiple perspectives.
So let's get Into the Green now!
Where is Munich?
First of all, please follow us to explore 'Where is Munich'.
In general, as a representative of the most livable city in Germany and even in Europe, it is very valuable to conduct relevant research on Munich related to Urban Green Space.
Let's explore what Urban Green Space in Munich contribute to making it a most liveable city, and what lessons can be learned by other cities.
Development Timetable
Since the establishment of Hofgarten München or Munich Court Garden in the early 17th century, after more than 500 years of development and construction, a large number of Urban Green Spaces have been built in Munich. Here is the timetable for the development process, marking the construction time of the 40 major ones.
History Review
Next, Let's take the time machine to review the historical development of Urban Green Space in Munich, especially in its main urban area, in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries and years 1900, 1930, 1960, and 1990.
What about now? Here is the overall map of the Urban Green Space in Munich nowadays.
From the center to all around, there has been a distribution pattern of three levels that small urban green spaces are embedded in the blocks of the city center, large urban green spaces are surrounding the city center or along the Isar River, and natural landscape including forests and meadows distributing on the edge of the city.
12 Representatives
As venues for outdoor events, the Urban Green Spaces have witnessed the development of the city, especially the occurrence of milestone events like the 1972 Summer Olympics. The Urban Green Spaces built in different periods have their own characteristics, which fully reflect the development and change of urban construction concepts. Now, we will introduce you to the top 12 representative Urban Green Spaces in chronological order of completion.
Green Activities
Thanks to Munich's large number of Urban Green Spaces with different styles, citizens can enjoy a wide variety of unique outdoor activities there. We can call these nature- friendly activities Green Activities.
Also, in different seasons, citizens can enjoy specific outdoor activities in these Urban Green Spaces. Let's come into four seasons to find out!
Conclusion
As we noticed during this project, Munich is very invested in its own urban green spaces. You can actually experience different activities, and luckily enough every space has its own character. Some are very simple, some are very focused on representing different designs or maybe more modernized and some are very classical. The cities usually are very busy and noisy all the time, which puts its own habitants in situations where stress is all you think and feel. We manage to view these urban green spaces as a small getaway, where you can just relax and have some moments of peace. It is one of the easiest things you can actually do.
Considering that other countries struggle with designing proper urban green spaces for humans, Munich proves something in this case. The city has managed its urban growth very well, by protecting the green spaces since the time they were built. It is a challenge and it will always be because there is always room for improvement. In the end, not everyone has the same preferences, some might like city life and enjoy the messy part of it, but in this project, everyone can be included, since there are activities for every person.
All in all, the process of Urban Green Space development is highly compatible with the process of city development. These urban green spaces have not only witnessed the occurrence of many landmark events in the history of the city like Olympics Munich 1972, but also participated in the daily life of every citizen. In the future, they’re gonna be more deeply integrated into city life.
Acknowledgements
This work is supervised by Juliane Cron , and Dr.-Ing. Mathias Jahnke , and supported by
The map data used in our storymap are mostly from ©️ OpenStreetMap . Some of them are from the vectorisation of the historical aerial images or maps, which are from the app Bayern in Historischen Karten , ArcGIS online , and Chair of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, TUM .
The historical and current information, and the pictures about Urban Green Spaces introduced in this storymap are mostly from the Official City Portal for Munich , and some of them are from Wikipedia .